Bernie Pearl, father of Auburn men’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl, died Wednesday after dealing with a “brief illness,” Auburn announced in a press release.

He was 88.

“He never met a stranger,” Pearl said in the release. “My little personality is nothing compared to the real BP.”

The Pearl family will hold a funeral service at Schlossberg Family’s Chapel on the Hill in Canton, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. No date is listed for the funeral in the release.

The Pearl family are outspoken Jews, and Bernie Pearl was no exception. Bruce Pearl said his father was 10 years old in 1945 and at that age, began to understand what happened in the Holocaust.

“He loved his Jewish heritage,” Bruce Pearl said. “It broke his heart knowing what happened in the Holocaust; it scarred my dad forever, having lost family. He wore it on his sleeve like he had a number carved on his forearm.”

Born in the Boston area, Bernie Pearl and his family grew up cheering for Boston sports teams. He went to school at Northeastern.

“He loved Boston and hated all the New York teams,” Bruce Pearl said.

But even as a Boston fan, the release states one of Bernie Pearl’s last requests was to be buried in an Auburn basketball jersey.